Redwall Abbey

OOC

Oh dear Overlord Soren, end the round!

[close]

OOC: Sage is eliminated for not having any IC content. Just kidding, I will end this madness tonight when I catch up on it all.

OOC: Luckily half the other contestants didn't post.  ;D

OOC: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I MISSED THE SIGN-UPS!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

OOC: So far over 3700 words (not counting Soren's post or OOC stuff) of defenses has been posted since the game started. :o

Yeah, this round is done. My judgement will be delivered later tonight. No more responses can be taken.
@Del
I would let you in, but it wouldn't be fair to whoever is going lose this round.

Jasper actually proposed this a while back; at the time, I didn't do anything with it because I was afraid of how close the game was to being an RP. ;) But, since the Arena OOC seemed to work well, and since I'm conceited and hoping somebody will comment on my posts, here's an OO OOC thread.

So, what do y'all think of this game so far? Any favorite quotes (for the sake of fairness, that aren't yours)?

I WANT TO SIGN-UP BUT IT'S TOO LATE!!! *Sobs.*

Well, you know what was said:

Quote from: Zigu's fatherWhere fate is sealed on battle's field,
And many low are laid,
The wisest mind says stay behind,
And let the fools get slayed!

This is honestly the single most stacked round, talent-wise, I think I've ever seen. It could get really bloody here.

I like the idea for this thread :)

Well, I'm excited about this round. So many people! More exhilaration. And also, this part of your last post was utterly hilarious:

Quote from: James Gryphon"I can attest about the Opposite Day nonsense. Here's how it all started. Sage and Plugg had been arguing very loudly, and yelling insults at each other. When Sage screeched, "NOOO, I'M AWESOME, AND YOU ARE STUUUUPIIIID, YOU STUPID STUPIDITY STUPIDITY STUPID STUPIDY-HEAD STUP MAN", so loud that it burst one of Jukka's eardrums (the poor girl has a condition, and her ears are especially sensitive), well, Sam had had enough. He screamed, "STOP SCREAMING!!!"

You all are such skilled competitors, even the newer ones. I'm afraid I am in for a tough battle.

Trying to incriminate you guys is like chasing a greased pig.

Same for you ;)

I think two of the biggest things to playing OO (besides writing skill) are confidence in yourself, and the ability to figure out what other people are saying when it gets complicated.

When I go into a round, I have the feeling that I can take on anything that anyone can throw at me. Even a large stream of attacks is just another puzzle to unravel, not necessarily a threat (although I grant that it can get tricky defending against a bunch of people when you have to stay within the word limit). I know what I can do, and I play to win. You need to believe in your writing.

The hardest part of OO is figuring out what's going on at any given time, since the story is often not clearly linear. Now, stories that start at the beginning and work their way to the end are easy to figure out, and it isn't any harder to start out at the end, and work your way back in time either (adding new causes of previously described events). Often, though, people will jump around from point to point, and/or don't leave a clear reference to what time something happened in the plot, and that gets confusing.

I've found that it can help my defending to take apart other people's posts, and try to 'rewrite' them by copying and pasting their stories in a text file and rearranging the pieces until they make sense. Once I know approximately the order that things happened, the rest is reasonably easy. If the timeline isn't clear no matter what you do, then you can fill in the blanks to make it so with your own post, or else just ignore everything that isn't relevant to your defense and build the story around the stuff that happened to you.

One thing that's worth keeping in perspective, though, is that the story should be fun. Many of my posts (especially the good ones) try to make the other players look a little juvenile or unreasonable, because characters acting silly is funny :). Music and Daniel were both great at this, and that's what makes many of their posts in OO2-OO4 so memorable to this day. I don't favor adding wacky elements to the story as much as I usually do having the characters themselves act strangely.

Another thing I like is to try to build distinct 'personalities' for people, even carrying them from one round to another if it's practicable. Daniel consistently portrayed himself as a bit of a wimp, constantly pushed around by the aggressive people around him. Music's character was a girly-girl. Daniel started describing Tagg as a bit of a forceful galoot (it was in OO4, I think, where he described him as a "no great reader"), and I carried this characterization on into the rounds I played with Tagg, doing things like having him steal Sam's book, the same as he had previously done with Music's diary three years before. One of the things I loved about Tiria's posts in OOX was when she made a post describing me as getting offended when she slapped me on the back, and saying that "he's like that". Currently, I'm trying to portray Sky as very childish and ditzy this round. ;) A characterization may or may not stick, but if you can make it work, it can add a lot of depth and continuity to the game.

Hmm. Very interesting, thanks James!

Really though, my big problem right now (and this isn't just in OO, it's IRL too so I really should know better) is somehow missing stuff. Like the entirety of one of Sage's posts and the first bit of Jukka's on the third page (we were on the fourth page by the time I noticed).

I do get what you mean about going into every post determined to find a way out of whatever predicament you're in. There's always a solution, you just have to find it.

I thought this was pretty funny, though...

Quote from: SageI'm sorry, alright? I never meant to poison Jukka, I just... well, it was Halloween the day before, and the spirit of Death Day just kinda took ahold.

My judgment has been delivered.

OOC: ROLF!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

I'm assuming you didn't mean to type "space flowers."  ;D What was it originally?

Thanks for highighting that post. I don't usually get a lot of comedic praise.

Then what do you call this? I thought it was incredibly funny. ;D


And here's my favorite line from this round, I thought it was incredibly funny ;D

Quote from: Sagetip, the hare on March 24, 2015, 01:20:25 PM
BIC: Indeed, as everybody says, I am the expert of airplane mites. As a matter of fact, they are so ugly I chose to hide them from Soren because he might overreact to the sight of them. Alas, he did see them, and as a result he threw cantaloupes at us all,

See what I did there ;)

Quote from: Mhera on April 09, 2015, 02:50:37 PM
I'm assuming you didn't mean to type "space flowers."  ;D What was it originally?

Yes, SPACE FLOWERS. My OO is insanely crazy.

Just noticed a pretty funny error in my post:

QuoteThey gorged themselves on most of the nachos, more than they could handle, and left just a small serving, which they had been so kind as to spit in while talking with their mouths open

Well, how else are they going to talk? ::)

I meant to say with their mouths full. I guess I got a little confused, what with that dreadful concussion and everything. ;)

Don't worry James, I'm not in the mood to end you on a grammatical error. (At least, not yet.)
I'm trying to keep my OO crazy, (Thus, the Matt Damon thing).

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on April 09, 2015, 04:05:35 PM
Don't worry James, I'm not in the mood to end you on a grammatical error. (At least, not yet.)
I'm trying to keep my OO crazy, (Thus, the Matt Damon thing).

:-*

OOC: Hey, it's just a game :) I don't want any hard feelings among any of us.

Decided to post my justification in a new post, considering the amount of content added.

I've been laughing so hard about this whole thing. You guys are hilarious. ;D

I really preferred Overlord's Orders when:

1) Everyone posted only when they needed to (Once to stay in the round, again if they have been blamed).

2) Rounds lasted several days.

Quote from: LT Sandpaw on April 09, 2015, 03:16:11 PM

Then what do you call this? I thought it was incredibly funny. ;D


And here's my favorite line from this round, I thought it was incredibly funny ;D

Quote from: Sagetip, the hare on March 24, 2015, 01:20:25 PM
BIC: Indeed, as everybody says, I am the expert of airplane mites. As a matter of fact, they are so ugly I chose to hide them from Soren because he might overreact to the sight of them. Alas, he did see them, and as a result he threw cantaloupes at us all,

See what I did there ;)

What did you do there?

Quote from: PluggFiretail on April 09, 2015, 08:32:58 PM
I really preferred Overlord's Orders when:

1) Everyone posted only when they needed to (Once to stay in the round, again if they have been blamed).

2) Rounds lasted several days.

This last round couldn't last several days because there were so many replies. If this happens again, I'm going to put a hauler on certain players replies.

OOC: I have a feeling Plugg's gonna die.

Please soren, deliver your judgement!

I'm going to wait a little longer. Maybe tonight, maybe not.

The whole Matt Damon thing is hilariously awkward.

Quote from: JukkaAs for kissing Matt Damon, well, he's actually my husband. (He recently divorced his previous wife without any media sources knowing.) Not many know this, though.

OOC: I absolute agree. :) I replied because I figured I should defend why I cut you off and ignored your instructions about the car, as well as which servants deceived me regarding your instructions. I'm sorry if it bothered you, I didn't mean to do that at all.

OOC: This basically turned into a unnecessary battle between Sky and Mhera, Plugg is still going to be kicked out from like of involvement no matter how much you incriminate each other.

;D

(I don't even think Damon is cute...)

OOC: Yes, I see that now that you say it. I understand I took things too far, and I'm sorry if it sucked the fun out of the game. I'll try and avoid that next time around. Again, I'm sorry guys. :-\

That is flippin' hilarious! Jukka? With the actor who played Jason Bourne?! That is so very funny. ;D ;D

I've decided (with some helpful advice from Del) to let this session continue for one more day. If you post, remember: Use good judgment.

As far as the whole Sky/Mhera thing, the only trouble is the timing. In the first few rounds, where there's seven or eight people or more, it's good to post once or twice. When it's down to four players or less, that's when you really get into it and start the back-and-forth battle. There's definitely a time and a place for what was happening, it just might be a bit early right now.

Agreed. Also, just a reminder: Keep it light. It's a forum game, and the most important thing is to have fun. And to be overlord of the universe.

OOC: No, Mhera, you're perfectly fine!

Soren, please end this round.

All the OOC chatter in the main topic is cluttering things up. Also, this is just me, but I'd rather y'all didn't beg the Overlord to end the round. He's played before and he knows what he's doing, and I'd say the time per round has been well within the expected norm so far. In fact, I'd say both this game and the last one are unusually fast-paced.

@Soren: Would you like for me to move OOC-only posts over here?

Yes, thanks James. I think that would be helpful.
I would like everyone to have a chance to post. Yes, this session has gone pretty fast, but I regret ending the first one so soon. I'm going to keep it open, until there doesn't seems to be any response. But, that seems to be coming soon, so don't freak out too much.

Done. All OOC-only posts after the sign-ups were completed are in here now (which means that I'm no longer shown as having created this topic, but whatever, I don't really care).

Thanks.

My judgment has been posted. Let the session begin!

Great walls of text... this is why I always regret not being the first to respond. The later you get in, the harder it is to get a read on what's supposed to be happening.

I'll try to get a post up no later than tonight. If I haven't said anything by tomorrow, then you might as well eliminate me.

Quote from: James Gryphon on April 12, 2015, 02:45:52 AM
He's played before and he knows what he's doing, and I'd say the time per round has been well within the expected norm so far.

;D ;D ;D
This session will last as long as the previous. And I'll make the decision then. ;D

FYI, the session ends tomorrow. I wanted to make sure everybody got a fair chance to post, and a fair warning.

Triple post because my judgment will be delivered tonight. Sorry about the delay and the problems of this round. The winner of this hopefully manages it better. :P

Quote from: the OverlordSam disappeared, and reappeared on the screen before the servants. He was strapped to a chair, with his eyelids open. All of the sudden, a TV in front of him turned on, and started playing Hallmark love movies. He started twitching from the terrible acting, but had to sit speechless at the TV.
"He will forever watch that movie. It will always give me comfort he can be prepared for a household accident by watching those commercials about Life Alert. Never can be too careful."

And here I was thinking the Justin Bieber/gif thing was bad...

I'll probably cast judgment tonight or tomorrow.
Can I ask: How does everyone like the round so far? Is it moving too fast or too slow?

It's fine!

Everything seems to be proceeding in an orderly fashion.

It's a great round so far ;D

I thought I covered my tracks there.

Quote from: Sagetip"What got into me" was actually Mhera. She, after drinking an invisibility botion, had a gun to my head. The gun wasn't inviisible, but the others obviously didn't notice. Actually, I think everyone bit James was onto it. I couldn't alert them to my plight,, for obvious reasons.

(that was my response to when James Gryphon said I went to the hairdresser)

(Actually, Jukka was the one to tell the robots we were servants, not Mhera.)

Really, I could have sworn it was Mhera, I'll go back and check though.

I think this session might be going better, judging by the walls of text I have to read.

When can I join?

The next round will be coming as soon as XV is finished. So, the contestants have to be eliminated before the next round starts with a new Overlord. That doesn't have a disclosed date yet, but it will be announced here and open in the Forum Games section.

Hey, Izzy, you forgot to explain why you told me the ship was headed for the BPoD and how you knew.

 Well, I knew because I programmed it to go there in the first place...

Okay.... How are you gonna explain this?

Quote from: Jukka the Sling on April 26, 2015, 10:14:58 PM
Okay.... How are you gonna explain this?

I already have. I was under the influence of rancor juice when I programmed it to do that.

Oooh.

I would like I remind everyone of this rule:

QuoteAlso, you cannot use an excuse like being brainwashed or cloned during the task. You are you - and you are responsible for what you did wrong.

Just please keep this in mind when posting and editing your posts.

Let me know if I ever break a rule or need to edit a post and I'll get right to it :)

What's important to being successful in this game - in my opinion - are creativeness and thoughtfulness. Most of all is determination and the mindset that makes you want to win your way through the rounds.

That's good to hear, Sky.

Thanks!

You did great last round Sky, and as far as this round goes, I cant say yet. ;)

Thank you :)

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on April 27, 2015, 12:33:22 AM
I would like I remind everyone of this rule:

QuoteAlso, you cannot use an excuse like being brainwashed or cloned during the task. You are you - and you are responsible for what you did wrong.

Just please keep this in mind when posting and editing your posts.

Does what I was doing count as that?

I can't say for sure, I haven't read your original post. I'm just keeping this, as a reminder to everyone, to follow this rule. It is only a couple of rounds old.

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on April 27, 2015, 04:48:12 AM
I can't say for sure, I haven't read your original post. I'm just keeping this, as a reminder to everyone, to follow this rule. It is only a couple of rounds old.

Ok, then. I'll make sure to keep that in mind in the future.

Actually, that particular rule's been around since Musician's round V; it just hasn't been placed in red highlights most of that time.

When Jasper and I talked about updating and clarifying the rules, apparently that was one of the things he felt was important to make known to everyone. I guess it was necessary; I think I remember people trying to tote the mind control excuse out during the round I most recently OL'd, XI.

Ah yes,the good old days when I could get away with stuff. ;D

The mind control thing was okay the first couple of times it was done, but after that, it got old very fast. OO2-4 were blessed with an exceptional core group of players, with Daniel, Tagg, Music and Matthias. They're the reason why it took as long as it did before this rule was clearly necessary. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing it maybe once every two or three games, but if it's legal, people will abuse it, so it has to be totally outlawed.

That said, though, I think we're finding ways to work around the mind control ban. The closest thing to it that we have now (which I am guilty of using myself) is "so-and-so threatened me with a gun to do X". Not sure how much more life that has before it starts to wear thin.

Yeah.
I would also like to remind everyone, and you've been great with this, is to be creative. OO should be fun. ;)

Posted for what'll probably be the last time this phase. Not my finest work, but I didn't take long with it, no more than probably fifteen minutes.

What happened with this round?

Quote from: LT Sandpaw on April 27, 2015, 03:40:49 PM

What happened with this round?

What exactly is the problem?

Me as I watch the round:
(http://gif.co/oEXi.gif)

Oh, I keep getting ROUND and SESSION mixed up.

Ya things have gone a little haywire with the whole ship thing and whatnot. Fun but muddled.

Quote from: James Gryphon on April 27, 2015, 05:04:49 AM
That said, though, I think we're finding ways to work around the mind control ban. The closest thing to it that we have now (which I am guilty of using myself) is "so-and-so threatened me with a gun to do X". Not sure how much more life that has before it starts to wear thin.

The gun thing is getting old. Almost everything about this game has been really fun, but having to explain why you pointed a gun at someone three rounds in a row is annoying. I don't really have a problem with being made to threaten someone (I've done it too), but some originality would be nice :P

But again, other than that the game has been fun. This is my first time playing so I don't have a great handle on what makes a good Overlord, but I think you're doing really well, Soren.

*sigh*  I know. I was planning to break away from the habit... but I got out.

@Mhera
Thanks you.
@Sage
Yeah, it seemed so easy to blame my actions on someone because they had control of my body.

QuoteOh, I keep getting ROUND and SESSION mixed up.

It's occurred to me that the terminology used to describe parts of the game is subject to getting mixed up, so this is what I would propose:

"Game" or "round" to refer to each individual, distinct game (OO I, OO II, etc.).
"Stage" or "phase" to refer to an individual segment of the game (so each round consists of several stages, with a diminishing count of player from stage to stage).

---

I mean to work away from the gun thing, but it will take a bit of effort to remember to do so; it's very easy to do.

Considering the last couple of posts, I think I'll have to make one last post to deflect blame. I have a hard time letting a stage end with undefended attacks on me.

I agree with James with the terminology thing. Your Overlord decrees it so. ;D

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on April 27, 2015, 05:07:18 AM
Yeah.
I would also like to remind everyone, and you've been great with this, is to be creative. OO should be fun. ;)

Well, I'm trying!

It's hard to let a stage sit when you feel like there's still unfinished business. Even so, though, I can only think of two other occasions I've posted this much at one time; the showdown with Tam and Izeroth to close up OOX, and that time in OOXII when we were supposed to break into the store.

(Now that I've looked back, the OOXII thing was only three posts, and not all of them were as long as these. The OOX ending was probably still the most, though.)

I'll probably end it tonight sense everyone is confused.

Actually, the most confusing session I've been in so far is the one with Soren, Sand, and me during Round 14 ;D

Whatever the results, I plan to be in Round 16! This is fun!

I'm sorry I haven't ended this yet, I tried to last night, but couldn't stay awake. I've been really busy and barley in one place at a time. I am trying to though.

I'm gonna be in Round 16. Count on it.

Quote from: Dibbun Against Bedtime on April 29, 2015, 08:32:43 PM
I'm gonna be in Round 16. Count on it.

Glad you're going to join us, Dibbun :)

Hey, Soren, are you gonna end this session?

Quote from: Jukka the Sling on April 30, 2015, 05:35:33 PM
Hey, Soren, are you gonna end this session?

Yes, it's just I've been too busy to sit for an extended amount of time to do it, and I've had WiFi trouble. I am hoping to end it tonight, again.

I'll see if I can get a response up tonight or tomorrow.

James said his response wasn't his best, but I found it brilliant :P

People here are very good.

Anyway, I plan to reply soon.

It looks like everyone's ready for someone to be disposed of.

I'd kind of like to get a reply up first; I should be able to either now or this evening.

I will end it this evening, provided I can stay awake for that long.

Soren, can you do me a favor? If Mhera/anyone else accuses me, let me reply before you post ;)

Are we gonna finish this?

Yeah yeah, I've been trying. But it's either been too late for me to stay awake or something. I'll try to again today. I'm determined. Sorta.

I will reply. I have been enjoying myself more lately, taking time to write more creative responses ;D I think I'll be back for 16.

I finally edited my earlier claimed post.

Dang....the walls of text.....

It's probably time to kill someone.

I would, but the replies keep coming.

I'll try to stop soon :-\

I follow the game even after my death 'cause it's fun to see what the Overlord does to the other victims.

Ok, I'm going to try my best to end this tonight. Please, if possible, finish or refrain from posting until I have delivered judgment.

Just to let y'all know: As I am going on a field trip, I might not be able to post much until Saturday.

This is a reminder to please respect the 750 word limit on replies. Thanks!

Sorry; first posts seem to run long. Still, my reply was 749 words, even counting redundancies ("...the angry football fans were angry...").

Everybody's probably done what they're going to do; it's time to kill somebody.

All right, all right. I'll do it asap.

All done with the eh judgment. Good game Jukka, this was the hardest one to choose between.

I bet it was hard! Good game! You all are very good at this. It's been a really tough round.

Oh, and the punishment was ironic :P ;)

Your orders have been given.

Great game, Mrs. Damon! ;D

A few questions for the Overlord:

1. So we just prepare a menu?
2. Are we accusing during this or just trying to out-plan-a-menu each other?
3. If we're trying to out-plan, do we prepare the menu together or separately?
4. If separately, do you want us to PM you the menu?

Yes, just prepare  it.
Nope, just trying to out do one another. No accusations.
Seperatly.
Yes, PM me when you've finaihed your menu. I'll post the two simultaneously later.

FYI: I received Mhera's reply. Still waiting on you Sky. :)

I apologize for the wait, but the round will end tonight.

Now that this round's over, I want to talk about how it went and what we can do moving forward to make a better game.

Long writing has taken over. I've discussed this at some length with Jasper, and my analysis is that each person's defenses per phase consist of something like 1500+ words, whereas in many previous rounds, most people's defenses could have fit under the 750 word limit (in spite of being split up into multiple posts).

It might be one thing if this was increasing writing quality, but honestly, I don't think it is. Frankly, there are only so many ways you can spin the same events before it gets tedious and a little ludicrous.

I talked to both Soren and Jasper about making a new rule to limit the amount of words per phase, but that might be getting a bit legalistic. Plus, after thinking about it, I'm not sure that the 750 word limit isn't somewhat to blame for this in the first place. The rule was made just to prevent me (or similar people) from overflowing rounds with novel-length posts, but it feels like it's instead been taken as an encouragement to write 750-word posts all the time.

Jasper talked about this so perfectly, with his customary insight, that I'm going to quote him here.

Quote from: JasperAs far as limiting their total number of words, I'm hesitant - as this would allow somehow who realizes the enemy player has reached this limit to just stack accusations on them without allowing them any response.

Not to mention I don't think it would be quite as fun if it's too regimented, but the amount of text in each round is getting a bit out of hand and it's clear some sort of limit is needed. I would say just use common sense and don't overflow the rounds, but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

Another idea would be to let previous responses in that round determine how they would respond to last minute responses. ... Then they [(the Overlord)] could look past a couple unanswered crimes, and look more at the responses and who sounds overall like they are trustworthy. (In court they don't decide the verdict based on who got a last word in, but on who had the best overall case. )

That's how I did my round, anyway. I looked at how strong the responses were rather than the number of responses, and considered who I would have believed if they had actually told me all of that.

That would help solve the length problem, as I think judges/cops would be less likely to believe a panicky scrambling and rambling suspect trying to throw off every possible suspicion as though they are afraid of something. On the other hand, they would be more likely to believe someone that has solid and concise responses to the major issues - it makes them seem like they know what they're talking about and makes their responses more believable.

(I clipped out part of Jasper's message. Unfortunately that part set the context, and I realized without having it, the quote needed a little clarification, so the bold text above is mine.)

Thusly, I'd propose that for the next round, we replace the 750 word limit with a simpler, harsher rule: "Don't overflow the round". You're all smart people and can feel when something is getting too long, and if anybody doesn't yet have that ability, the Overlord can help bump y'all back in the right direction. Hopefully this will make the game more manageable going forward.

Good idea.

I think I'm joining the next round (it's incredibly nerve-wracking but enjoyable), and if I do make it to top two again, I won't back out.

I agree with James rule.
I'm definitely going to be in the next round.

Are people mad at me about what I did? I can't blame you if that's true.

Quote from: Skyblade on June 30, 2015, 02:18:48 AM
Are people mad at me about what I did?

Sweetheart, you need to calm down. You're acting like me.

I'm a little disappointed that you didn't feel you could run the next round, but it's a game, and what's done is done. There should be other opportunities.

Thank you, and I hope you feel better.

Yeah Sky, it's no big deal. You're perfectly fine. :)

Good game, you guys! :)

@Jukka: Most definitely. Also, I'll probably be laughing about Mrs. Damon, Esmeralda, and Jukka the Finn for forever ;D

@Sky: You're fine. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next round (and you too, Soren ;D )

@James: That looks like a good rule, and I'll attempt to implement it. With that said, I might have trouble judging if overflow occurs, given that last round is the only one I've participated in and as far as I know long posts are the norm. I'll take a closer look at previous rounds to get a better idea of what you mean. Also, if you think I slip up in some way during the game or could do something to make it run more smoothly please let me know.

OO2 through 4 (some of my all-time favorites) and most of OO12 aren't bad stories to read for reference. What a prospective Overlord should remember is that a good part of their job involves judging writing quality, and for the most part, somebody writing more shouldn't be able to help them. One 750 word post isn't the problem, as much as when people string together three or four posts like that in a row, feeling that they have to counter every tiny little thing.

Also remember that prior to OO 11, each story from each round was connected. (E.g. Round 7 has a 9 players who blow up a McDonald's and get chased by 8 people to a Starbucks. In round 8, 8 players are chasing 9 people who blew up a McDonald's and chased the to a Starbucks.) All rounds after 10 are independent.

Ehh, I can't say I agree with that. The only real connection most of these stories had is that the Overlord was described as succeeding a previous one. The only round I can think of which did anything like what you mention is actually OO11 itself, and that was a special case; I was actively trying to revisit old situations as a homage to the game's history.

Oooh, ok. It wasn't fully explained.

Thanks guys, I'll be sure to check out some of the older rounds. I have an idea for what the plot will be, but the thread won't get posted until sometime next week as I want to think it through some more (plus I'll be gone :P )

I must say that I kind of like the style of Overlord's Orders 8 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=4241.0). Instead of writing long posts, people take turns filling in what happened in the story and justifying themselves. I'm not sure how it would work, but just saying.

That's interesting. I'm not sure how well it would work when not every player wants to write in that style, but if you want to give it a shot there's nothing stopping you.

I'm pretty much ready to start the thread, but I was wondering what you guys think the the best way to describe the new rule (since no one has opposed it, I'm assuming it's in) is. Maybe something like this?

Quote from: original rulesLikely, the Overlord will choose the best defenses as survivors.

Player defenses may not exceed 750 words per post. Unless your post has gotten noticeably quite long, you are unlikely to be hitting this limit.

Quote from: revisionDon't overflow the round. Player defenses will be judged on quality, not length or frequency.

Any thoughts?

That sounds good.... it'll be difficult for me to adjust from long, unfettered creative stories to sharp brevity, but so be it.

Well, you can still post a big post if you want to, but this way, you don't need four 750-word posts to get the job done. Look back at rounds 2 through 4 -- Daniel, Music, Tagg and Matthias packed some of the greatest and most creative performances in the game's history into relatively short defenses. In fact, my favorite post of all time from any round of OO was only two sentences long (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=888.msg28430#msg28430). Think of it as extra freedom, not a restriction.

Hmm, I will try!

I have to confess I was a little confused by the order of events here. I'm not sure what's supposed to be going on with the Walmartans or any of that.

I'll post tonight.

Wanted to comment: the problem that results in these back-and-forth exchanges is blaming things on the same person each time. If you attack somebody, they respond, and you want to post again, it's better for readability and game flow if you attack somebody else (especially if your new target is someone that hasn't posted yet).

I didn't think about that. Thanks for the tip.

Quote from: James Gryphon on July 13, 2015, 09:03:15 PM
I have to confess I was a little confused by the order of events here. I'm not sure what's supposed to be going on with the Walmartans or any of that.

The Walmarta are just chillin' for the moment. They're not doing anything except flying the Overlady's private plane around right now (hopefully that answered your question; I'm not sure about what you're not sure about :P )

I was talking about Sage's post.

Wow, poor Norham! And also, rrrrr hasn't been accused of anything so far.

Muahahahahahaha

You should still post to not get kicked out for inactivity. I would recommend checking that thread every time you log in :)

Your situation is pretty funny, rrrrr ;D

Quote from: James Gryphon on July 14, 2015, 12:33:43 AM
I was talking about Sage's post.

I see now; I hadn't read any of the posts when I'd replied above :P While I had meant for the Walmarta to be confined to the island, I didn't say anything that kept them there, so Sage's post is fine. If it's still confusing you guys you're doing a great job of hiding it. I'm not sure what needs to be explained, sorry.

Also, on the back-and-forth thing, it is starting to overflow the stage at this point. It's okay to defend and accuse, of course (that's the point of the game), but the stage is going to be open for at least three or four days. If you get accused after your first post, please wait to reply until some others who haven't posted yet get a chance to at least read through (unless your response is short). It's not a race :)

I think this is the biggest piling-on I've seen.

I didn't intend it, it just happened.
See, this is what happens when you people don't let me post first. ;D ;D

If I had my way I'm not sure any of y'all would ever post first. ;)

I seriously feel bad for Nor; this is his first game. Are we allowed to defend other people? :-X

You can try (Jasper did once), but if he's inactive, it shouldn't help.

Quote from: Skyblade on July 14, 2015, 07:03:37 PM
You should still post to not get kicked out for inactivity. I would recommend checking that thread every time you log in :)

I do, I read all of it >.< so funny

Hmm. Nor isn't a very active member in the first place. I'll see..

Hey rrrrr, funny it is, but you need to post! ;D

Posted already. I'm kinda newbie on this though :(

I understand. But we're here to help if you need it! :D

Quote from: rrrrr on July 15, 2015, 10:42:59 PM
Posted already. I'm kinda newbie on this though :(

You're not the only one :P

Hey, Norham, I don't think it's allowed to say that you were drugged.  (Though I totally get why you did...)

Stage ends tonight.

Mean to get a post in tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.

 I like how this round has gone so far. Definitely one of my favorites.

Did a bit of a double take when I read about the "fire" sprinkler system". That was totally unexpected! G'job.

Edit: Mean to make a long post before tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, after that I'll be out of town until Saturday, so it will probably be my only post this session.

Round ends tomorrow night.

Stage ends tonight. Sorry for the wait, ya'll :)

A little disappointed with the result, but I was pretty much expecting it.

The trouble is that I keep getting writer's block half-way through these games. When I write, I know I'm as good as anybody else in the game, but you can't win if you don't put something in. I'd meant to write a post for the last two days or so, and even kept a text document up... but nothing really came to mind. I was sure I could go the distance this time, after two frustrating similar results in my last two rounds (XIII and XV respectively), but obviously, that didn't happen.

If nothing else, this'll give me the opportunity to focus my energy on getting the second Arena going.

This is the one of the craziest sessions I've been in.

I really wish y'all would knock it off with the claimed post thing. Just post when you post.

Quote from: James Gryphon on August 19, 2015, 12:26:32 AM
I really wish y'all would knock it off with the claimed post thing. Just post when you post.

I've always found it unnecessary, as the Overlord/Overlady usually gives people a lot of time to post before ending the session.

Quote from: James Gryphon on August 19, 2015, 12:26:32 AM
I really wish y'all would knock it off with the claimed post thing. Just post when you post.

Didn't I express that to you last round, then nothing came from it?

You did. I'd hoped people would quit doing it without my saying anything about it. They did for a while, but it seems to have popped back up again.

 It might be a good idea to add a new rule, making it so that claimed posts will be ignored after a certain amount of time.

So long as that time is "right away", I'm all for it. ;)

I don't really see what purpose they serve, except for stating that someone intends to post eventually... which they can do already on the OOC topic. I know I never pay any attention to them whenever I play; I'm sure not going to hold off on posting until somebody else has, unless I know they'll beat me to it and I'll have to rewrite everything.

I said it the last time 'cause Mhera was looking at the topic and I was concerned that she might end it before I could post.

If it's starting to look like someone is going to get eliminated for inactivity I'll give them a heads up and try to work something out. So unless I PM you, a session closing before you can get a word in isn't something you need to worry about happening. I do appreciate it when folks say they intend to post, though, as it eliminates the potential for awkward PMs. Just try to do it in this topic ;)

Quote from: Skyblade on August 19, 2015, 12:19:21 AM
This is the one of the craziest sessions I've been in.

Ya'll are insane.

I unfortunately felt the need to utilize claiming posts, but I'll stop now.

I'll post eventually.  Right now my nose is totally stuffed and my eyes feel all droopy and I just generally don't feel that good.  (Cold, I hate you!)

I will post at some time.

 I'll post tonight.

I will be posting soon.

I'll attempt to post sometime tomorrow.  Possibly today, but it's unlikely.

Stage will (hopefully) end Monday night.

New stage is up. Remember not to flood the round, guys :)

Okay.

Out of curiosity, why did Amber get kicked out? I wouldn't have expected her.

If she asks me, I'll tell her, but I don't feel comfortable telling ya'll how specific players fell short. I will say, though, that it was very, very close. Good work, Amber :)

Contrary to the apparent, I will post.

 Overlord's Orders appears to be dead. Anyone want to continue the round?

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on September 13, 2015, 06:01:43 AM
Contrary to the apparent, I will post.

I thought about posting something about this earlier. I don't think it's dead for good (no more than it was after OO9), but people get burnt out on doing it again and again in such a short time. After this round is over, it should probably have a long break.

I appreciate the reminder, anyway :)

Mafia has taken the spotlight I guess.

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on September 20, 2015, 11:38:21 PM
Mafia has taken the spotlight I guess.

You're welcome ;D

(I like OO better unless I have an ACTUAL ROLE in Mafia)

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on September 20, 2015, 11:44:08 PM
(I like OO better unless I have an ACTUAL ROLE in Mafia)

Same.

I WILL post.  Eventually.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Remaining servants, it is my duty, honor, and privlage to inform you that James will be taking over my duties as Overlady- er, Overlord, for the rest of Overlord's Orders XVI. It's been so much fun, and I hope that you guys enjoy the rest of the game :)

...I really need to post in that :-\ I kept putting it off; I'm sorry.

You seem to be the only one who hasn't yet, so it is on you.

I'd feel like a hypocrite hippocrit if I eliminated you without warning and time for you to make a post. I'll give you until, say, Thursday evening. That should be enough time. This phase will end probably no later than Saturday, and maybe earlier depending on how it goes. People's interest seems to be cooling down, and although I don't mind taking a vacation from OO for a while, I'd rather it not happen in the middle of a game, so I'll do what it takes to expedite the end of this.

Thanks.

It's late, but it's done.

Three to go.

Crazy Texan bird-lion? Check.

I would post first to get the round moving forward, but I think it's to my advantage not to!

Soren's punishment was brilliant ;D That post in its entirety was great.

Quote from: Skyblade on October 13, 2015, 05:07:17 AM
Soren's punishment was brilliant ;D That post in its entirety was great.

Thanks; I thought it would be.

As far as posting first goes, I've actually found it to be advantageous myself. You can set the tone, instead of having to react to everyone else.

Besides, if everybody followed that strategy, then nobody would respond at all and I'd have to kill everyone in my next post.

Hey James:
(http://worth1000.s3.amazonaws.com/submissions/288500/288737_5929_625x1000.jpg)
(;D)

I was thinking more like this. ;)
(http://www.kandkparrots.com/images/733_Sweetie_the_Green_Cheek4.JPG)

Is that yours?

Neither one, no.

Good, because I'm not your pet. ;D

Maybe not, but your character is Games'.

Fine, write a story where I bite off Games' finger. ;D

Or use one of those cigar trimmer things. *cough*missionimpossiblereference*cough*

Been almost a week and not a twitch from any of y'all.

I'm going to wrap this round up by Monday.

If nobody's posted by then, I'll either kill everyone (thus ending a chain of succession that has gone unbroken from 2011 to the present) or pick one of you (either randomly or based on your resume) to kill, and hope that the survivors post something for the final phase.

If only Games would've spared me, then I could've posted by now... ;D ;D

Well, maybe you could have, but that doesn't mean you would have. ;) Some of the current survivors could've posted too.

Ugh, hurry up and finish already, I'm itching to get back into this. :P

This phase should end Monday, and then it'll be just two players. That shouldn't last more than a few days. We might be done with the game by this time next week.

(Pweeze pweeze pwetty pweeze can I be next Overlord?)

Iff you win this round. ;)

This stage closes tonight. Final phase will begin afterwards. How long I let that one go depends a lot on how the surviving two players play it, but it shouldn't close any later than Saturday night in any event.

Quote from: James Gryphon on October 17, 2015, 02:22:36 PM
Iff you win this round. ;)

So no.

Getting very tired of this prolonged wait.

Tomorrow, 9 PM, CST is the deadline. If nobody's posted by then, you both die.

Quote from: James Gryphon on October 23, 2015, 08:05:57 PM
Getting very tired of this prolonged wait.

Tomorrow, 9 PM, CST is the deadline. If nobody's posted by then, you both die.

I'll post tonight.

Quote from: James Gryphon on October 23, 2015, 08:05:57 PM
Getting very tired of this prolonged wait.

Tomorrow, 9 PM, CST is the deadline. If nobody's posted by then, you both die.

If they both die, can I become Overlord?

We'll see.

 I take it the deadline has been extended?

Since you both actually posted, yes.

I'll probably end it tonight or tomorrow night.

This post is challenging to counter.

May I have until tomorrow night?

You can, but I'd rather you get it in earlier, firstly because that allows for more content this phase (I'd like to have more than two posts a piece, especially given how thin the previous phase was, with just two posts, total, from three people), and secondly because I don't like having to wait for good responses.

For better or for worse, I've posted!

Round is over. I mean to post the ending today.

Don't start the next round until I've signed up.

Izeroth is starting this next round, it should be good. I've got some good expectations for my first round since I left. Seeing how horrible I did my last round I'm hoping for a little redemption.

 I'll try to post the next round by Saturday.

Hopefully it can get back some of the spotlight that Mafia'd taken from it. The main thing is to make sure that things keep flowing; I think the last round started bogging down as things went on.

Quote from: James Gryphon on October 27, 2015, 11:08:29 PM
Hopefully it can get back some of the spotlight that Mafia'd taken from it. The main thing is to make sure that things keep flowing; I think the last round started bogging down as things went on.

All rounds will be up for a maximum of two weeks. After that point, regardless of how hard it is to choose, I will pick a servant to dispose of.

Quote from: LT Sandpaw on October 27, 2015, 10:47:46 PM

Izeroth is starting this next round, it should be good. I've got some good expectations for my first round since I left. Seeing how horrible I did my last round I'm hoping for a little redemption.

I've never even played.

And here's a late apology from me for never posting in that one phase. :P I kept procrastinating, and then I never saw James's warning post until the day afterward.  So, during the two times I've played, I've never made it past the final three. ::) Anyway, I've never wanted to become the Overlord.  I'd be absolutely hopeless at choosing which person to kick out.

I, meanwhile, have some very inventive ways of punishement...

@Jukka: I actually wrote an Overlording "guide" at one point, actually. I thought it would have been helpful for prospective OLs. Maybe I ought to post it up in public sometime.

I was thinking about making a companion volume, for OO players, but never got around to it. Maybe when I have some spare time one of these days...

That would be helpful, I think.  Why don't you post it?

Sure. Haven't touched it since at least January, so it could stand an update (firstly to use the new distinction between "rounds" and "stages", which didn't exist at the time, and also to talk about rounds that took place after 2011), but it's still serviceable.

QuoteFirst, look back at rounds 2, 3, and 4 (which I think were the best). You can learn a lot by observing me and the other Overlords in these rounds.

Round 2 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=888.0)
Round 3 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=948.0)
Round 4 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=1088.0)

The first thing, which I cannot overemphasize, is to be active. This last round was disastrous mainly because the Overlord was one of the ones missing in action. Along similar lines, you have to make sure that you always keep the action going. Don't ask just one person to answer your question; leave it open for other people to answer you. The reason for this is because if you only ask one person, and they're inactive, the game comes to a halt. You can stretch this rule if you know that the member you're asking is always active, but if you have any doubts leave it open for others.

Each round is supposed to last about a month or so. If you have to wait more than two or three days for a reply, you're doing something wrong. Inactive users are very common in these games, so what you want to do is eliminate them first. When you're deciding who to eliminate, and you have a choice between someone who's been posting and someone who hasn't, you should never eliminate the active user, no matter how bad it looks for them in the story. Make up any excuse you need to to get rid of your inactive players.

The Overlord is playing the game just like anyone else, he just has a different role. You have to set the scene, make sure that the minions don't get too crazy in their responses, and bring out the quality in their responses.

On setting the scene: you need a good villain's lair and interrogation room, with a lot of descriptive text detailing their appearance and layout. You will see this in all three of the above rounds. This sets the example that you want your players to follow throughout the entire round, and gives more character to your questioning them. Make sure that you have innovative ways to eliminate players when you're getting rid of them. Be as creative as you want in doing so, just make sure that it's intimidating enough so as not to ruin the atmosphere that you're building. Your punishments, as a general rule, should be more harsh as the story goes on.

Make sure that you don't leave the players a totally blank slate. At the beginning of each round, define what went wrong. For example, in this post (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=888.msg27882#msg27882), I mention that they ruined my book and were caught breaking into the facility. If you only say "You failed; tell me why", they will come up with the most off-the-wall stuff you can imagine, and the entire round will be completely silly. Overlord's Orders is more than a game; it's a roleplaying exercise of sorts. A little bit of silliness is going to leak into the prose anyway, and it spices up the story, but if you're not careful it's very easy for it to take over and kill off anything that resembles a coherent plot. Overlord's Orders I (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=722.0) is the perfect example of silliness run amok.

Your players should not normally post single-line responses. Feel free to ask them (in-character) for more detail if they haven't been forthcoming. In general, though, I think the best way to encourage quality of response is to set a good example. When you look at the three rounds I showed you at the top, you'll notice that me, Daniel, and Matthias all tended to make very long posts, when we were Overlording. That's a Good Thing.

In deciding who to eliminate: The biggest thing, like I mentioned before, is to get rid of inactive people first. After you're down to only active players, then what you should do depends on the story, and on the players themselves. Look at the excuses that the players have given and determine who is most at fault, in the context of the story. Then, look at the players themselves. You will notice that some of them are better writers than others. You have to carefully weigh the strength of the excuses and the writing ability of the players. In general, I would say that you should favor better writers. The better the writer, the harder it should be to get rid of them. Once you're down to the point where you have only good writers, then you can judge mostly based on their excuses.

It is the tradition (established by me, actually) that the Overlord asks the final two players a question to decide who replaces him. The loser is not normally punished. You can mess with all of this any way you like, or do something else entirely -- there is no hard rule regarding how succession or the final round are done -- but this is a proven formula and you can't go wrong by following it.

I hope this general guide to running a round of OO is helpful. If you have any questions or need any advice when you're running it, feel free to ask me again.

Thanks, James.

I'll be definitely joining this one. . . . Let's hope I can keep up with you wordy people.

@James:  Cool!  That was really helpful.  Thanks!

@Corny:  Cool!

I'll be joining. Only Tag, James and Matthias have been Overlord multiple times. I want to blow that top-3 open.

I soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo want to be Overlord.

Lots of people going for the top spot this time, I hope I'm just online when Izeroth posts the sign-ups. Or I'll miss the deadline which would be the worst!

I'm working on a sort of "encyclopedia of OO". Here's what I have so far. Suggestions for expanding it are more than welcome; just PM me and I'll think about adding it in.

Categories of Defense
Rebound
"Bob said I broke the ladder? He's one to talk about breaking things... he dropped the vase we were there to get in the first place."
Turning an attack back against the person who attacked you. Not a preferable defense because they tend to do the same thing to you, bringing you back to square one.
Deflection
"I admit that what he said is true; I couldn't keep the door shut. However, that was because of Cynthia. She insisted we leave it open to 'let some air in', and reopened it every time she crossed the room."
Redirecting an attack to a third player. This is generally good for the game because it gives more people a chance to get involved in the play. If they continue with a deflection of their own, this also keeps the attention away from you, so it is preferable to rebounding.
Diffusion
"I was making good time, but then two masked men burst into the room. Before anybody knew what was happening they grabbed the golden board and took off."
Directing an attack at a NPC or part of the environment. If there are too many things going on in the story, this can be a good way to get rid of some of them. Commonly used by players who felt they've posted enough and don't want to have to make any more responses in a phase.

Problematic Defenses
Threatened with a Gun
"I did pull the ejection lever, but that's because Joe pointed a gun at me and forced me to do it!"
This defense became notable in the last few rounds, when it was repeatedly used more or less as written above. Can be done with other types of violence or weapons. This has probably always been around in some form or fashion, and always will be, but if you plan on doing this, make sure it hasn't been recently employed (either by you or someone else).

Mind Control
"I was just going along, minding my own business, when all of the sudden, I was brainwashed by beavers. They forced me to put in the nuclear launch codes."
This infamous defense became so commonly used that it was banned just several rounds after its first appearance. It still gets trotted out on occasion, though, by players that have forgotten that part of the rules. A good Overlord will call players on it, but this can be countered as a player, by noting the controlled servant must have neglected to apply their mind-control preventant.

It Knocked Me Out
"Little did I know that the closet had been filled with bricks. When I opened the door, all of them fell out, burying me and knocking me unconscious."
A defense that essentially attempts to escape from having to answer any charges that might arise from one part of the story. (After all, you can't attack someone who wasn't there.) This has a place in stories that have gotten especially long or complicated, when the player can't keep up with some of what's going on, and uses this to skip over it to something else. However, it's often used to try to bypass taking any responsibility at all (by claiming they were "knocked out" or tied up or whatever for the entire duration of the story). Observant Overlords should punish servants who use it in this fashion. Cases like the example above can be countered by saying that the servants did things they weren't aware of (by sleepwalking or such like).

Opposite Day
"I did denounce you, oh great Overlord, on radio, television and the Internet for the entire world to see and hear, in multiple languages, but that was after I said, "Everything I am about to say is untrue". I really meant that you were the best there was."
This defense redefines the context of something a character said or did so as to make it achieve the opposite result as the attack had implied. Almost exclusively follows "They Said It" (a type of attack which has its own entry down below), but creative readers might be able to imagine other circumstances where it could be used. This was (to my recollection) introduced, used and then abused at the beginning of OOXV, and has been cliched ever since. I recommend this only on special occasions (like when the characters involved are in especially childish situations). It should not be your go-to defense.

Problematic Attacks
The Disloyal Servant
"Sam called his friends over, and they sat around for hours, drawing up plans of how they were going to put a bomb in your Highness' room to kill you."
An attack that asserts the servant was blatantly involved in subversive plots against the Overlord. Has been used very much lately, and is cliched. This might also risk violating the rule about presuming someone's motives:

Quote from: The Rules"Also, a character doesn't know what someone else's motives were in doing or saying something -- they can speculate on those motives, but saying about someone, for instance, that "they meant to kill the Overlord" is not automatically factual."

"They Said It!"
"Jane said, "I would rather die than help the Overlord. He's a brainless monkey, anyway. I only ever pretended to serve him."
A rather one-dimensional attack (very easily combined with the Disloyal Servant, as in the example above) that puts words in a character's mouth in an attempt to attack their motives. The most popular defenses to this are equally one-dimensional, and involve either redefining the context of what was said, or simply redefining the words altogether. (The latter became extremely popular in OOXII, as players claimed that practically everything said was "in a different language".) I recommend that this attack be used only sparingly; it usually does no more than bog down the game and stretch the suspension of disbelief.

Moving the Goalposts
Jack: "So Bill took the leaflet and threw it into the fire, dooming our mission to failure."
Bill: "It's true that I burned the leaflet, but I'd already written the contents of the leaflet down on my mePod. I was just trying to get rid of evidence so that the terrorists couldn't follow our tracks."
Jack: "Fine, Bill did do that. But then he smashed his mePod!"
Not unlike the logical fallacy of the same name, this responds to a defense by adjusting an attack you had previously made just enough so that it works again. This doesn't express creativity, and should generally be avoided.

Fine Print
James: Then she said (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=8110.msg459011#msg459011), "Oh, by the way, everything I just said is what I really think, and it meant exactly what it sounded like: it wasn't a joke, or a secret message in code, or the opposite of what I meant, or another language, and also nobody is making me do this under duress."
The excessive use of some certain defenses has led to people "hardening" their attack by methodically eliminating arguments that they anticipate their target will try to make use of. This was cute the first few times. Now it's overdone. Among other things, this obviously stretches the believability of the story. In general, I think it's better to implicate people by their actions, not words. This form of attack very frequently accompanies "They Said It".

I'll try to remember all that.

Yep!  Thanks, James!  That was fun to read.

Added a few new attacks and defenses; enjoy!

I actually did find the Fine Print attack rather funny for a while, but then it became kinda boring.  Anyway, I shall try to keep those in mind if I decide to play OO again.

 The new round begins on Monday. Anyone who's still considering signing up needs to make a decision by then.

Sorry about that.

Thanks James, I didn't want to get into a argument over the rules, in truth I had written my response at the same time as Vilu who managed to post slightly faster then myself. Owing to the fact that he had little substance in his post I kept my original seeing as it was close enough to work.

Though I'm willing to change it "slightly" if Izeroth sees fit.

Hopefully this post adequately clarifies the sequence of events.

I think that clears things up.

Quote from: James Gryphon on November 11, 2015, 09:08:03 PM
Hopefully this post adequately clarifies the sequence of events.

Huh?

Quote from: Sagetip, the hare on November 11, 2015, 11:14:11 PM

Quote from: James Gryphon on November 11, 2015, 09:08:03 PM
Hopefully this post adequately clarifies the sequence of events.

Huh?

He means the in-game post he made.

I only have one problem with James' post, he tried to make me look bad.

That's the point.

Alright, so I've posted. It's been a while since I've written anything of this sort, so apologies for rustiness if my post oversteps its boundaries.

Oh, and thanks to everyone posting about me doing crazy stuff, I had to do some rather odd mental gymnastics to wriggle out of blame. In a rather odd way you're saying 'Welcome back to OO, Matthias; suffer!" :P

Quote from: LT Sandpaw on November 12, 2015, 02:59:15 PM

That's the point.

:o

Nice post Matthias

Thanks! ^_^

Sorry all it's been a crazy few days in my life I'll make my first post tomorrow. :)

I have no incrimination as of yet.

Quote from: Sagetip, the hare on November 14, 2015, 03:28:31 PM
I have no incrimination as of yet.

Neither do I, but it's still very encouraged to post ;)

I'm sick today, so I'm finally taking the time to reply to posts/PMs, including this game :P Anyway, I'll read and review James' OO guide.

Quote from: James Gryphon on October 30, 2015, 09:18:35 PM
I'm working on a sort of "encyclopedia of OO". Here's what I have so far. Suggestions for expanding it are more than welcome; just PM me and I'll think about adding it in. Great and thoughtful idea :) I've actually made one of these myself back in the summer, but I don't believe I'm qualified enough to share it.

Categories of Defense
Rebound
"Bob said I broke the ladder? He's one to talk about breaking things... he dropped the vase we were there to get in the first place."
Turning an attack back against the person who attacked you. Not a preferable defense because they tend to do the same thing to you, bringing you back to square one. Hmm, interesting. I agree this isn't the best idea for your reasons. Also, in the example, you wouldn't be justifying WHY you even broke the ladder. That leaves you still guilty.
Deflection
"I admit that what he said is true; I couldn't keep the door shut. However, that was because of Cynthia. She insisted we leave it open to 'let some air in', and reopened it every time she crossed the room."
Redirecting an attack to a third player. This is generally good for the game because it gives more people a chance to get involved in the play. If they continue with a deflection of their own, this also keeps the attention away from you, so it is preferable to rebounding. Good idea. Also, nice names for strategies.
Diffusion
"I was making good time, but then two masked men burst into the room. Before anybody knew what was happening they grabbed the golden board and took off."
Directing an attack at a NPC or part of the environment. If there are too many things going on in the story, this can be a good way to get rid of some of them. Commonly used by players who felt they've posted enough and don't want to have to make any more responses in a phase. I prefer to attack other players, but it is preferable to wrap up the round or deal with smaller things.

Problematic Defenses
Threatened with a Gun
"I did pull the ejection lever, but that's because Joe pointed a gun at me and forced me to do it!"
This defense became notable in the last few rounds, when it was repeatedly used more or less as written above. Can be done with other types of violence or weapons. This has probably always been around in some form or fashion, and always will be, but if you plan on doing this, make sure it hasn't been recently employed (either by you or someone else). I personally think this is a cheap and easy way to defend yourself. Be more creative :D

Mind Control
"I was just going along, minding my own business, when all of the sudden, I was brainwashed by beavers. They forced me to put in the nuclear launch codes."
This infamous defense became so commonly used that it was banned just several rounds after its first appearance. It still gets trotted out on occasion, though, by players that have forgotten that part of the rules. A good Overlord will call players on it, but this can be countered as a player, by noting the controlled servant must have neglected to apply their mind-control preventant. Yeah, that should be unacceptable. It's an even cheaper excuse.

It Knocked Me Out
"Little did I know that the closet had been filled with bricks. When I opened the door, all of them fell out, burying me and knocking me unconscious."
A defense that essentially attempts to escape from having to answer any charges that might arise from one part of the story. (After all, you can't attack someone who wasn't there.) This has a place in stories that have gotten especially long or complicated, when the player can't keep up with some of what's going on, and uses this to skip over it to something else. However, it's often used to try to bypass taking any responsibility at all (by claiming they were "knocked out" or tied up or whatever for the entire duration of the story). Observant Overlords should punish servants who use it in this fashion. Cases like the example above can be countered by saying that the servants did things they weren't aware of (by sleepwalking or such like). It's an interesting strategy, though I find it more beneficial to say that you were awake and trying to do something to improve the situation (but failing because the others messed it up).

Opposite Day
"I did denounce you, oh great Overlord, on radio, television and the Internet for the entire world to see and hear, in multiple languages, but that was after I said, "Everything I am about to say is untrue". I really meant that you were the best there was."
This defense redefines the context of something a character said or did so as to make it achieve the opposite result as the attack had implied. Almost exclusively follows "They Said It" (a type of attack which has its own entry down below), but creative readers might be able to imagine other circumstances where it could be used. This was (to my recollection) introduced, used and then abused at the beginning of OOXV, and has been cliched ever since. I recommend this only on special occasions (like when the characters involved are in especially childish situations). It should not be your go-to defense. Aren't I the one who started this? :P I intended to use it once, but it got out of hand. I don't plan to employ it often at all anymore.

Problematic Attacks
The Disloyal Servant
"Sam called his friends over, and they sat around for hours, drawing up plans of how they were going to put a bomb in your Highness' room to kill you."
An attack that asserts the servant was blatantly involved in subversive plots against the Overlord. Has been used very much lately, and is cliched. This might also risk violating the rule about presuming someone's motives:

Quote from: The Rules"Also, a character doesn't know what someone else's motives were in doing or saying something -- they can speculate on those motives, but saying about someone, for instance, that "they meant to kill the Overlord" is not automatically factual."

It has gotten old.

"They Said It!"
"Jane said, "I would rather die than help the Overlord. He's a brainless monkey, anyway. I only ever pretended to serve him."
A rather one-dimensional attack (very easily combined with the Disloyal Servant, as in the example above) that puts words in a character's mouth in an attempt to attack their motives. The most popular defenses to this are equally one-dimensional, and involve either redefining the context of what was said, or simply redefining the words altogether. (The latter became extremely popular in OOXII, as players claimed that practically everything said was "in a different language".) I recommend that this attack be used only sparingly; it usually does no more than bog down the game and stretch the suspension of disbelief. I guess this strategy is getting old as well, though not as much as the one right above.

Moving the Goalposts
Jack: "So Bill took the leaflet and threw it into the fire, dooming our mission to failure."
Bill: "It's true that I burned the leaflet, but I'd already written the contents of the leaflet down on my mePod. I was just trying to get rid of evidence so that the terrorists couldn't follow our tracks."
Jack: "Fine, Bill did do that. But then he smashed his mePod!"
Not unlike the logical fallacy of the same name, this responds to a defense by adjusting an attack you had previously made just enough so that it works again. This doesn't express creativity, and should generally be avoided. Hmm. Interesting observation.

Fine Print
James: Then she said (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=8110.msg459011#msg459011), "Oh, by the way, everything I just said is what I really think, and it meant exactly what it sounded like: it wasn't a joke, or a secret message in code, or the opposite of what I meant, or another language, and also nobody is making me do this under duress."
The excessive use of some certain defenses has led to people "hardening" their attack by methodically eliminating arguments that they anticipate their target will try to make use of. This was cute the first few times. Now it's overdone. Among other things, this obviously stretches the believability of the story. In general, I think it's better to implicate people by their actions, not words. This form of attack very frequently accompanies "They Said It". It is getting kind of annoying :D

A helpful read, James. Thank you for posting it.

@Sky: What does me and Soren being the only pople who knew how to forge have to do with the portal?

Uh, what now? I'm not in this, or did you guys rope me into your plot?
Hahaha, I just checked the thread. Maybe you guys forgot I'm setting this out. ::)

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on November 15, 2015, 01:38:37 AM
Uh, what now? I'm not in this, or did you guys rope me into your plot?
Hahaha, I just checked the thread. Maybe you guys forgot I'm setting this out. ::)

Yes, I don't have to worry about you! Oh, okay. I edited your name out :P

Sage, you'll have to read the responses to understand.

Not 100% sure where to put this, so...

Quote from: Skyblade on November 15, 2015, 03:17:51 PM
"Well, I don't know about Sam, but the items Sage was referring to were actually useless (and unsanitary) creature droppings. They were crowding the room and making it hard to navigate, as well as making us all prone to some type of creature disease. Seeing as how there was no trash can in sight, and by disposing of these I could hinder the other servants' attempts to get rid of your important belongings, I threw them in the portal (with a 10-foot pole, I might add).

I must also clarify something. When someone stops the machine, it doesn't spit back everything that it previously swallowed. What's lost is lost, hence why I couldn't save the tapestries Amber and Banya tossed inside. But it's worth nothing that had I not stopped the machine, the destruction would have been even worse. And also on the bright side, we don't have to deal with those disgusting creature droppings."

Isn't this against the rules, because I stated that they were precious items, so, by the rules, isn't that a fact?

(not to start a fight)

I'm sorry if in my post I made some mistakes, or contradicted anyone, tell me if I did. I will fix it.

I thought it was OK because the items you mentioned didn't necrssarily have to be the same ones Sam dealt with. Those were precious; yours didn't have to be.

Quote from: Sagetip, the hare on November 15, 2015, 03:35:16 PM
Not 100% sure where to put this, so...

Quote from: Skyblade on November 15, 2015, 03:17:51 PM
"Well, I don't know about Sam, but the items Sage was referring to were actually useless (and unsanitary) creature droppings. They were crowding the room and making it hard to navigate, as well as making us all prone to some type of creature disease. Seeing as how there was no trash can in sight, and by disposing of these I could hinder the other servants' attempts to get rid of your important belongings, I threw them in the portal (with a 10-foot pole, I might add).

I must also clarify something. When someone stops the machine, it doesn't spit back everything that it previously swallowed. What's lost is lost, hence why I couldn't save the tapestries Amber and Banya tossed inside. But it's worth nothing that had I not stopped the machine, the destruction would have been even worse. And also on the bright side, we don't have to deal with those disgusting creature droppings."

Isn't this against the rules, because I stated that they were precious items, so, by the rules, isn't that a fact?

(not to start a fight)

It's fine in this situation, as 'precious' is a relative term and you never specified exactly what objects you were talking about. If you had earlier said that the objects were precious gems, for instance, Sky would have been violating the rules.

Problem fixed.

At this point I don't think I need to reply to Sage, seeing as how some people haven't posted yet. If everyone does, though, I'll form a defense.

 The round will close within (roughly) a week. Remember: even if no accusations have been leveled against you, it's still important that you post something. Inactivity almost always guarantees elimination.

 Overlord's Orders round XVII is now officially online again. On account of the recent technical difficulties, I'll give you all another week to respond.

IZZY!!!  It's so great to see ya! :DDDDDDDD

Hey Iz! Did you see the Alternate Universe forum? (Aka, the temporary one James set up?)

Quote from: Soren the Warrior on December 24, 2015, 01:48:10 AM
Hey Iz! Did you see the Alternate Universe forum? (Aka, the temporary one James set up?)

Unfortunately I did not.

It's here: http://soopergrape.com/RAF

Great to see you again, Iz! :)

Quote from: Jukka the Sling on December 24, 2015, 01:52:10 AM
It's here: http://soopergrape.com/RAF

Too lazy to do all he stuff to get an account there. Meh.

Reading the threads, I've fallen in love with this game all over again :)

 For discussion regarding Overlord's Orders.

Is this even gonna happen?

Sooooo...

It's finally startin'.

BTW, did I even do that first post the right way? :p

Groddil: You can't kill anyone (like Fatch did with Daskar), which is why I left it as an open point, but it's petty good.

Then again, I haven't played in a while.

DERNIT, I thought I was signed up...

Quote from: Sagetip on September 07, 2016, 12:45:48 PM
Groddil: You can't kill anyone (like Fatch did with Daskar), which is why I left it as an open point, but it's petty good.

Then again, I haven't played in a while.

I never said he was dead, mate. Or what the gun even fired. :p

OOC: Maybe Soren can take my place. When I was signing up, I actually did so pretty hesitantly; I'm not really in the mood to play right now. Probably joined so I wouldn't regret it later, but I don't want to play if I'm not going to give it my all.

The game just started, so we could just replace mentions of my name with Soren's. I hope this isn't a problem.

Replacing Sky with Soren sounds like a reasonable compromise. Consider it done.

Was there a word limit? Because I might have gone over it with my first post. ;)

The word limit rule's not there any more; it's up to the Overlord's discretion when someone is overloading the round.

I think you might have forgotten, though, that according to the rules, mind control and the like have been banned. You might not have said that you were brainwashed, but having it happen to somebody else and your trying to stop them isn't much different.

I thought it was cool, just as long as you were responsible for your actions under its influence.

Maybe, but if it's "uncontrollable", that doesn't imply that they're still responsible agents.

Quote from: James Gryphon on September 07, 2016, 02:02:32 PM
Replacing Sky with Soren sounds like a reasonable compromise. Consider it done.

IN! :D I'll get caught up today.

 I as a character considered them uncontrollable, as in I couldn't control them. That doesn't mean they weren't in control of their own actions.

Well, that wasn't made very clear. ;)

I'm a little wary of the mind-altering substance concept in general, though, whether it's used to justify your own actions or not.

I'll refrain in the future then.

I'm inactive for not even a day and you all turn on me? Thanks for being such great friends! ;D ;D

You weren't even mentioned until Fatch brought you up. ;D

Groddil mentioned me in his first post! ;D

Oh yeah. I missed that. :P

Groddil! I specifically tried to hold you and everyone else exempt in my attacks and here you go and blame me for everything! ;D

Quote from: Delthion on September 07, 2016, 10:03:50 PM
Groddil! I specifically tried to hold you and everyone else exempt in my attacks and here you go and blame me for everything! ;D

You're the only person I COULD blame it on.

@Groddil - It was Sagetip who was responsible for the music, not me. He took over the ship's speakers.

Quote from: Fatch of Southsward on September 07, 2016, 10:15:41 PM
@Groddil - It was Sagetip who was responsible for the music, not me. He took over the ship's speakers.

Sagetip blamed it on Del and I. I blamed it on Del, not you.

Rosie is getting this amazing free pass. All she has to do at this point is post five sentences. ;)

It's a good thing to, I'm terrible at contradicting people :P

Ahhh, I misread it as "What about the music Fatch, you did all that."

It was actually "What about the music, and Fatch, you did all that."

My mistake. I'm on my phone and the text is very small.  :P

Y'all who haven't posted yet need to!

My reply will come today, sorry for the hold up.

I think that all we are waiting on is someone to die right now! ;D

They are usually a little worse for wear by the time it's done, but my servants rarely permanently die.

Now, some of them probably would have rather died (like Skyblade, when she got clownformed, which, as cruel as it was, might be my favorite all-time punishment that I've done) ;).

My apologies for posting OOC in the thread. I forgot about this thread momentarily.  ;D

My favorite punishment that I made was when I locked someone without shoes in a field of Legos near a Justin Beiber concert.
I think the best from you James was when you put Sand in a tube of eternal falling.
So I posted. Hopefully it's cool and all.

Quote from: Søren on September 12, 2016, 06:07:50 AM
My favorite punishment that I made was when I locked someone without shoes in a field of Legos near a Justin Beiber concert.
I think the best from you James was when you put Sand in a tube of eternal falling.
So I posted. Hopefully it's cool and all.

That was me.

I've got lots of punishments stored up for the inevitable takeover of me as overlord.

Uh, trying to figure out what earned me my punishment. Causing more trouble than normal is hardly a reason to get rid of me, especially seeing that I aptly transferred blame to everyone else, and remained untouched for the rest of the round. Isn't the whole point of OO's about your defense? Which, as I said, I find little no no holes in.

But I can't change the past, and it's too late now.

You were punished in advance, because James knew you would make this double-post.

::)

Well, when I judge posts, I'm looking at more than just the defenses (otherwise, the people who posted last would always have the advantage); I'm looking for clarity.  Now, there wasn't much that separated you from the other players; it was a bit of a toss-up. But as to why you were in the elimination range, I felt you tried to do too much in your posts. There were a lot of new story elements that I didn't think were necessary and made it hard to figure out what was going on, and the timeline was confusing. A lot of you did that, but I decided to single you out, this time.

I see.

@LT Sandpaw: I think you just said the exact opposite of what I did.

Another piece of advice I'd have for y'all is not to go "over the top". There's nothing wrong with bringing alien space bats down from the sky every now and again, but in general, you should stick to more mundane explanations when they will suffice. I would recommend adding only one or two fantastic elements at a time. The rest of your post can be filled in as well or better by fleshing out other people's story elements, and throwing in odd/juvenile behavior from the other players.

@Groddil: I read it, and it didn't look like it contradicted any previous plot elements to me?

@James: It doesn't really contradict, but Sand said that I attacked him and broke his gun, when I said the exact thing about him in the previous post.

We need you to post James! I think... ;D

I believe he's waiting on @Rosie Willowwater

Rosie, you might want to post soon! There's a lot of things racking up against you! Yikes!

Oh. Wow I'm bad at this ;D

Skill will come with experience. ;D

Oh Rosie.... You're dead for sure!  ;D

You never know! ;D

I guess what's gone up is what's going to, so I'll try to get a judgment in before too long.

Is the phone number actually legit? :p

Why am I out of the game? Rosie obviously had the worse defense!

Quote from: Delthion on September 24, 2016, 02:27:21 AM
Why am I out of the game? Rosie obviously had the worse defense!

Agreed.

Quote from: Delthion on September 24, 2016, 02:27:21 AM
Why am I out of the game? Rosie obviously had the worse defense!

Because you didn't do anything. She took a risk. Her "defense", such as it was, showed some hope of creativity. Your defense parroted Groddil. Lying low might work in Mafia, but it doesn't get you anywhere in OO.

Don't get me wrong; I didn't think that much of what she did. I felt her defense, as implemented, was pretty lazy. It was a tossup between the two of you. But, I don't judge Overlord's Orders so much as a legal defense game where you're trying to construct the best alibis (although that is the premise of the setting), I do it more as a writing game.  Given the short, weak, lazy, boring defense and the short, weak, lazy, creative/risky defense, I decided to give her the extra chance this time. Her character showed more initiative that could be put to use, as misguided as its direction might have been, than yours.

Quote from: Groddil on September 24, 2016, 02:26:06 AM
Is the phone number actually legit? :p

555 is a well-known and usually restricted combination of numbers in North American telephone number prefixes. Now, it looks like I misunderstood how phone numbers work, and put it in the area code, not the prefix. So, the short answer is, I don't know. It probably isn't, but I can't say that for sure.

This result is unfortunate for Delthion. I'm assuming, like me, he saw no reason to post further because it seemed that Rosie would be dead for sure. In hindsight, looking back through the posts, I can understand your decision.

I won't be able to respond until Monday or Tuesday.

Bump.

Anyone who hasn't spoken plan to?

People that haven't responded, please respond! . ;D

All right. I plan to post a judgment before I leave town tomorrow, but depending on how things play out in my schedule, it might be delayed until late Saturday or Sunday/Monday.

Very, very sorry for the prolonged delay... I intend to have something up by the end of this night.

---

Done.

I was a little vague about Rosie's punishment, but couldn't go into much more detail without feeling like I was sidetracking. Besides, it's only the third elimination, so it makes sense for it to not be as terrible as it could be.

Basically, just imagine a long-term sensory deprivation chamber (not unlike in that very long story I wrote for "Corrupt-a-Wish" on the old forum).

 Who's still interested in doing Overlord's Orders XVII?

I would be.

I'm sorry that the current one seems to have fallen off the rails. I've been more prone to do that over the past year than used to. :-\ I have it on my to-do list, it just keeps getting postponed.

I am!

Although I'm not around too often these days.

I thought it'd be better to start a new one than to continue the Special Round II from where we left off, with only two or three active players. I hate to have basically dropped two rounds in a row, but hopefully we can do better now.

I've never seen a signup this lifeless.

@Jasper
@Fatch of Southsward
@Trigoma
@Matthias720
@DanielofRedwall
@Delthion
@Jukka the Sling

My apologies, the role play I was involved in was not getting much attention, and there was little else to keep me coming back. Glad to see this is getting revived. Fatch will be on shortly.  :)

Quote from: James Gryphon on June 21, 2017, 08:47:20 PM
I've never seen a signup this lifeless.

@Jasper
@Fatch of Southsward
@Trigoma
@Matthias720
@DanielofRedwall
@Delthion
@Jukka the Sling

I've been waiting so long, I nearly stopped checking. If it makes you feel better, I am here now almost entirely to participate in this.  :)

I'd love to have even two more applicants before I begin. We've never started with just four, and although I think I could manage it, I'd rather not have to.

This is probably going to be a mistake, but I'm in.

Since Groddil's gone, I need a sub for his spot in OO.

@Fatch of Southsward @Hickory @Jukka the Sling @Matthias720 @Jasper  @a crumb

New phase up.

Posted.

Sorry for how long it's been taking me to post, guys.  I intend to soon.

I also apologize. I believe I missed an entire round. Thank you for not murdering me just yet.

Just a quick note about the newest post.
Per my post, the cyborg mallards began agitating for worker rights AFTER they were cybernetisized, not before; there were four minutes of cybernetics-driven productivity before the revolution started (apparently thanks to Hickory).

Also, that previous sentence is worth just admiring for a moment.

Wait... Jasper's post has it so that the ducks were cyborgs before I proclaimed myself duck king... when mine had it so that they only became cybernetic after I started my plan.

My post was made with the intention of adding to the story in that regard. (So that there was unrest both before and after cyber-transformation)

They began agitating for rights, so I made them Cyborgs bent to my will and upgraded their contracts. Then Hickory reprogrammed one to "Turn them all against me."

When I typed that phrase, I was trying to say that he once again turned them back to demanding worker's rights. So, in my point of view, there were two separate instances of civil unrest. Hopefully this makes sense.

In conclusion, in my eyes there were two separate instances of unrest. I'm fairly certain this fits acceptably. Let me know if you would like me to edit.

Apologies for the unclear wording. I can see why this was confusing.

Since you explained your logic here, I don't think you need to edit. As long as everything we've written is interpreted appropriately, I think we're fine.

It took the equivalent of two The Smiths albums to write that post. I had to cut a really dumb joke about Jasper and tying people to a pole. I hope you all can forgive me.

The constraints of James Gryphon's, and how well Jasper's post boxed me in, made that the hardest post I've done.

Awwww mann. I like tying the rebellious servants to poles.  :(

You'll have to let me know what the joke would have been. Haha!  :D

Sorry to double post.

@Hickory I'm just waiting on you, then I may post again.

Next phase will begin soon; I haven't forgotten y'all.

I'll have a post up once I have more time. Life and all that.
As with last round, the post won't address every allegation. I seem to have found that countering a 1000 word post that way would just end up with a 2000 word post. So...more new material. Way too bogged down otherwise to just relitigate. unless it's ferrets

Welp, it's down to you now, to continue the legacy. Fitting, I suppose.

@Jasper

Wow! I won?! Awesome!  ;) I didn't think I was gonna make it!

@a crumb I wanted to go all out so badly! If I wasn't bogged down in tests and school it would have been legendary! There were lots of times where I thought I was a goner. You are a fantastic player! Good game!

@James Gryphon Well done hosting a tough round with activity being a problem. I appreciate you keeping it going like this a lot. OO would be dead without you. The forum would be dead without you. Cheers mate. I will get a new round going soon. (Or the signups of said round going soon.)

@Fatch of Southsward Get rekt. Didn't even last to the last round, ya clown!

That was indeed very fun. You are very good at formulating good defenses and accusations, Jasper. Totally deserve the win.

The factory and lemonstand were probably my favorite phases. Some golden posts from those.
Ozymandias-Jasper was particularly fun to create.